Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Showing impairment of energy or strength; enfeebled. synonym: weak.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective lacking strength or vigor; weakened.
  • adjective weakened due to illness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Weakened.
  • adjective run down, damaged, in disrepair.
  • verb Simple past tense and past participle of debilitate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective lacking strength or vigor

Etymologies

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Examples

  • When she said she was 'debilitated' at havin 'to give us ham and toast that was funny enough, but what come afterwards was funnier.

    Thankful's Inheritance Joseph Crosby Lincoln 1907

  • Former Newsnight producer Chrissy Rosenthal, from Cookham, said she and ITV football frontman Jim had been "debilitated" by the the illness but were now better nearly a month after they were struck down.

    unknown title 2009

  • Mr. Trichet said the financial crisis had 'debilitated' the real economy, that interest rates were appropriate and that the central bank would exit its non-standard measures gradually.

    FXstreet.com 2009

  • She describes her father as a "charming" but "totally irresponsible man," and tells how her mother, a "pioneer in journalism who couldn't do it all," was debilitated by what was "at that time called a nervous breakdown."

    Marcia G. Yerman: Gloria: In Her Own Words -- A Life in Activism Marcia G. Yerman 2011

  • She describes her father as a "charming" but "totally irresponsible man," and tells how her mother, a "pioneer in journalism who couldn't do it all," was debilitated by what was "at that time called a nervous breakdown."

    Marcia G. Yerman: Gloria: In Her Own Words -- A Life in Activism Marcia G. Yerman 2011

  • He is in a wheelchair, debilitated from AIDS, and they live in constant fear of eviction as their limited income is barely sufficient to pay the rent.

    Human Rights Watch: US: Mississippi Policies Fuel HIV Epidemic Human Rights Watch 2011

  • Some suggest that the prospect for future bipartisan / post-partisan efforts both procedurally and substantively has been debilitated, since the politicization of the debt ceiling sacrificed problem-solving in favor of ideology.

    Bradford Kane: Lessons From the Debt Ceiling Crisis: Bipartisanship in the Tea Party Era Bradford Kane 2011

  • The "Nemeses" grouping calls attention to Roth's continuing concern with men who may not be stricken with what's often defined as a "tragic flaw" but who nevertheless come to live debilitated lives of their own making.

    David Finkle: Easy Reader: Philip Roth's Nemesis an Instant Classic David Finkle 2010

  • The film follows Pimentel as he gives up a safe corporate job to follow his dream and talent of public speaking, as well as his long friendship with a writer almost completely debilitated by cerebral palsy (Michael Sheen).

    Up All Night With Too Many Movies « Screaming Blue Reviews 2009

  • She describes her father as a "charming" but "totally irresponsible man," and tells how her mother, a "pioneer in journalism who couldn't do it all," was debilitated by what was "at that time called a nervous breakdown."

    Marcia G. Yerman: Gloria: In Her Own Words -- A Life in Activism Marcia G. Yerman 2011

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